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Lisa Salazar

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On Tuesday, Sept. 26, a group of about 100 people stood outside the Langley Schools District 35 office in support of the Trustees who had recently approved the SOGI 123 curriculum. (I won’t go into the SOGI specifics, anyone can review it for themselves at www.sogieducation.com.)
Among those holding up signs and standing in solidarity with the trustees, were students, family members, friends and allies of LGBTQ students.
I wasn’t able to attend, since my current occupation had me stuck in downtown Vancouver. During the two weeks leading up to this peaceful rally, I was in communication with a few individuals who were responding to another group of parents. This first group had voiced strong opposition to SOGI, with a well-organized initiative that included a Facebook page and a website to raise money.
The Langley parents who are afraid of SOGI gathered a few weeks earlier to listen to their organizers, who included Kari Simpson, Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, and New Westminster pastor …

Nine years ago I began my social and medical transition after decades of struggle to reconcile my Evangelical faith to who I was discovering myself to be. You need to understand that I was almost 40 years old by the time I first came across the term "transgender," in about 1988.

It was in the early 70's, during the Jesus People movement that I "came to faith." Secretly, though, my hope and motive for embracing the Christian faith was my sincere belief that this confusion I lived with would one day disappear. I just needed to be faithful and, you know, do all the things we are taught to do; like pray without ceasing, memorize scripture to retrain my mind, die to myself daily, put to death the works of the flesh, renounce Satan, and the list goes on.

From the academic research I have done as part of my MA in public and pastoral leadership, two central truths emerged for me. 1) Transition is a spiritual experience that transforms a person — much like a near-death e…

(CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH INTERVIEW)“This week’s Conversation That Matters features Lisa Salazar, who helps us to understand the transgender spectrum.
“What does it mean to be transgender?“The term is relatively new. It is also widely misunderstood. Many people believe trans or transgender is about sexual orientation rather than gender identity.

“After decades of fighting the voices in her head, Lisa took on the long and challenging transition from her life as a man to the one she knew was her true self.

“Lisa takes us on her journey and at the same time provides insight into the lives of transgender people.

“Her life story and the recent enactment of Bill C-16, which ensures that transgender people are guaranteed the same human rights as those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, lead to this week’s conversation.

A reflection on the story of the Apostle Philip’s encounter with the Samaritans (Acts 8:4-8) and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) and its connection to Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:7-8), and the future fate of the foreigner and the eunuch (Isaiah 56:3-5).
— Lisa Salazar, MAPPL Presented on November 19, 2017, at NorthwoodUnited Church, Surrey, BC . This church is starting the process of becoming certified as an Affirming Ministry. In order to become an Affirming Ministry, a congregation (or presbytery, conference, educational institution, outreach ministry, chaplaincy, retreat centre, camp) must go through an educational/discernment process that reflects on what it means to be inclusive and evaluates your ministry’s openness to the ongoing work of being intentional about how it includes others within the life and work of your ministry. (A previous version of this message was presented on September 25, 2016, at Crescent United Church, Surrey, BC as they w…

Hundreds gathered at the Peace Arch Border Crossing Sunday afternoon, January 12, 2017 to express concern and opposition for recent American immigration policies and attitudes impacting immigrants and refugees. This peaceful demonstration had originally been planned for January 5th but had to be postponed due to poor weather conditions.

I was invited to say a few words; this was my text:

I am an immigrant, first to the United States, and later to Canada. I am Hispanic, I am Latina… I am white skinned. I am a citizen of Colombia by birth—and a citizen of Canada by choice. I am a transgender woman. I am a lesbian

Like every single person who has ever lived, I had no choice in which country I'd be born in; Nor into which religious tradition. I did not get to choose my parents, I had no choice over my mother tongue. I had no choice when it came to the color of my skin. I did not choose my sexual orientation And I did not choose to be transgender.

The Apparent Hypocrisy of British Columbia’s Elected Liberal Government
The same week that Transgender advocates and allies stood in front of the BC Legislature in support of the introduction of a private member’s bill aimed at protecting the rights of transgender people, the BC Liberal Government announced an order-in-council that adopts the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Codes of Practice for both kennel and cat breeding.

Indeed, this is very good news for dogs and cats in British Columbia.
Yet, this same Government has sat intentionally on it’s laurels, refusing to pass an exact version of the “trans rights bill” on three previous occasions. This is the fourth time the Honourable Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA for Vancouver-West End, introduces this bill. The bill would amend the BC Human Rights Code (BCHRC) to include “gender identity and gender expression.”
Having “gender identity and gender expression” included in the BCHRC will afford increased protection, safety, and …

My letter to the editor was published in today’s the Province newspaper; it’s reposted below. I wrote it in response to a full-page feature story that appeared in Sunday’s (Nov. 29th) edition, titled ‘There’s a revolution going on’.

Lisa Salazar: Despite Caitlyn Jenner, many people still struggle with ‘men in women’s clothing’

While I am always grateful for positive press regarding trans issues, especially when I happen to know some of the players in the stories, my hopes for greater understanding and acceptance continue to be tempered by the lived realities of most of the trans persons I have come to know. The revolution University of B.C. student Cormac O’Dwyer alludes to in Province reporter Glen Schaefer’s article on Sunday is, unfortunately, nothing more than a tempest in a teacup.

While it is true that Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out caused a 100-per-cent increase in the number of people who claim to know a transgender person (to 16 per cent from eight per cent), being aware that som…

As someone who has come to terms with
what for years seemed like a paradox and contradiction, if not absurd chaos, I
came to realize fairly late in life that much of the identity I had constructed
for myself had to be tossed out and I needed to start over.

Yes, I've been around too long to think that I could keep all the details of my life private, though I try. There are a few things you need to know about me which will put what I have to say in perspective and provide a context for this blog.

Most
people don’t have a clue of what goes on inside the head of someone who is
gender dysphoric; the questioning and the persistent sense that something is
wrong and that the gender they identify as does not quite align with their body.

The
contradictory aspect of all of this is the absolute sense I always had, all the
way from the first memories of this chaos until today, that I am deeply loved
and cherished by God. However, this sense of being loved did not stop me from
wanting to make sense of who and what I was, always asking the most basic of
questions in our human repertoire, “Why this?” and “Why me?”

From childhood I did the only thing
that made sense or seemed most logical. But this, of course, was a subjective
interpretation, it was using a logic rooted on the social constructs around me:
my family, my circle of friends, and the larger social an cultural environment
I existed in. My logic was based on what other said, and with respect to me,
how they defined me. But inside me there was a different raging conversation
going—a debate of sorts—that at times was a screaming match, but it lacked
words. Without a nomenclature and vocabulary, it meant that this condition, or
whatever it was called, would have to be kept gagged and shackled.

How
does one cope or deal with this kind of absurdity? When others are making plans
for their future and dreaming of a golden time in their lives, I was ensuring
the chains and the locks around this unknown force were holding tight.

It is hard for me to
remember much of my childhood because the most vivid and accessible memories
are of me envying others being free to be themselves. It’s like I was a
spectator of everyone else’s life, but I was behind a chain-linked fence and
not part of the action.

What
does this have to do with my philosophy of life as a spiritual health practitioner
and facilitator? The short answer is that it is the basis of what gives me the
sense of being loved and cherished by God, and this—in turn—is what compels me
today to want to help others find their voice, if not a language, that will
help them begin to make sense of their own chaos.

I no longer have the myopic
and egocentric view that I am the only person who struggles to find words for
the unspeakable and indefinable in life. I realize that we all have this
burning need to flesh out who we are with words that ring true, even if those
words are frightening and strange at first before they become marvelous.